Murder in Mind (TV series)

Murder in Mind
Genre	Drama, thriller, crime
Created by	Anthony Horowitz
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	23 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	22 April 2001 – 29 June 2003
External links
Website

Murder in Mind is a British television thriller drama anthology series of self-contained stories with a murderous theme seen from the perspective of the murderer.

It was created by Anthony Horowitz, and broadcast on BBC One from 2001 to 2003. It included guest stars in every episode and it ran for three series, for a total of twenty-three episodes.

Episodes

Series 1 (2001)

Original broadcast: 22 April – 17 June 2001, BBC One

#	Title	Starring	Original airdate	Viewers[1]
1.01	"Teacher"	David Suchet and Gillian Kearney	22 April 2001	6.92 million
Edward Palmer is a respected headmaster at a state boys' school. However a minor indiscretion in his personal life on a council estate leads to an accidental but horrific crime. One night Palmer approaches a rent boy for sex but quickly realizes he has made a terrible mistake, the rent boy pulls a knife demanding cash, but in a struggle he is killed. There's worse to come for Palmer, he was seen...and there's evidence at the murder scene which makes him an easy target for blackmail. His only daughter Catrin, a nurse, has a plan. Can Palmer, a pillar of the community, take the law into his own hands, or, after battling with his own conscience, will he pursue even more desperate measures?
1.02	"Flame"	Steve McFadden and Keith Allen	29 April 2001	6.99 million
A firefighter (McFadden) discovers that his wife is having an affair with his colleague and is in the process of seeking a divorce. He is approached by a "problem-solver," James Napeworth (Allen), who offers him a solution.
1.03	"Motive"	Susannah Harker and Reece Dinsdale	6 May 2001	5.48 million
A couple (Harker and Dinsdale) decide to murder their babysitter. But what, if any, are their motives for doing so and can they cover up the crime?
1.04	"Mercy"	Timothy West, Judy Parfitt and John Gordon-Sinclair	20 May 2001	6.35 million
Dr. Collins has helped his wife Margaret with a so-called assisted suicide. To the police, he is a suspect. To the public, Dr. Collins is a hero. But what is the truth?
1.05	"Vigilante"	Ian Kelsey and Tim Healy	3 June 2001	5.32 million
A police officer (Kelsey) and two mates pay a visit to a man, accused of being a 'paedophile' by the local press, intending to obtain the location of a local missing girl. However, events quickly spiral out of control and loyalties are put to the test.
1.06	"Neighbours"	Kevin Whately, Caroline Goodall, John Thomson and Denise Van Outen	10 June 2001	8.06 million
The Squires (Thompson and Van Outen) move in next door to Nigel (Whately) and Joanne (Goodall) Liddy and start making their lives a suburban nightmare. Eventually, Nigel's patience starts wearing out and he decides to take action.
1.07	"Sleeper"	Keeley Hawes	17 June 2001	6.41 million
Deborah (Hawes) suffers sleep terrors and is prone to sleepwalking, and it is severely affecting her relationships and studies. After she suspects her boyfriend of cheating, he leaves. The next morning, Deborah wakes up with blood on her clothes and next to a blood-stained hammer.

Series 2 (2002)

Original broadcast: 5 January – 28 May 2002, BBC One

#	Title	Starring	Original airdate	Viewers[1]
2.01	"Passion"	Pauline Quirke, Lucy Davis and Mark Womack	5 January 2002	6.7 million
A lonely call centre supervisor (Quirke) is infatuated with her manager (Womack), who she believes is unappreciated and neglected by his wife. When she suspects that a colleague (Davis) is having an affair with him, she plans to remove both obstacles from his life with the hope that he will then realise a love for her.
2.02	"Disposal"	Rob Brydon and Geraldine Somerville	27 January 2002	5.12 million
A mild-mannered waste disposal manager (Brydon) accidentally records evidence of his wife having an affair with his brother-in-law. He sets about planning revenge; the perfect murder - efficient and with no suspicion. But is it possible? (This episode features the main character(s) breaking the fourth wall and talking direct to the audience as the events unfold.)
2.03	"Rage"	Annette Crosbie, Neil Dudgeon and Maggie O'Neill	2 March 2002	5.87 million
A kitchen-knife salesman, Eddie (Dudgeon), is having an increasingly bad day. After a road-rage incident, Eddie believes that he has killed a man. His overbearing mother (Crosbie) insists that he does not contact the police to confess and sets about ensuring he is not detected. As the pressure mounts and Eddie begins a friendship with the widow (O'Neill), an investigating Detective begins getting closer to the identity of the murderer.
2.04	"Swan Song"	Michael Greco, Samantha Robson, Danny Webb and Jesse Birdsall	20 March 2002	4.81 million
A sexy nightclub singer (Robson) plots with her lover (Greco) to murder her rich husband (Webb) so she can inherit his money and develop her singing career.
2.05	"Flashback"	Nigel Havers, Patsy Kensit, Jamie Foreman, Art Malik and David Hemmings	23 March 2002	5.32 million
A newly-appointed Judge (Havers) is shot on the steps of a courthouse. A series of flashbacks take us back to the events leading up to his last criminal court case as a QC; the violent murder of a high-class prostitute (Kensit).
2.06	"Victim"	Neil Stuke, Camilla Power and Frances Grey	6 April 2002	4.73 million
Two friends move into the basement flat of a landlord (Stuke), who exhibits unusual behaviours. At the same time, a series of murders of local women are being reported in the local press. As one, Emily, gets closer to him, Lucy becomes increasingly suspicious of him.
2.07	"Memories"	Neil Pearson, Rebecca Lacey and Anne Stallybrass	20 April 2002	5.91 million
A surgeon (Pearson) suffers recurring nightmares of being chased in woodland as a young boy. Can he unravel the mystery of his memories?
2.08	"Regrets"	Dennis Waterman and Samantha Beckinsale	28 May 2002	5.59 million
After a bank error results in a struggling business owner (Waterman) losing his business, house and marriage, he decides to get revenge...

Series 3 (2003)

Original broadcast: 25 January — 29 June 2003, BBC One

#	Title	Starring	Original airdate	Viewers[1]
3.01	"Echoes"	Tara FitzGerald, James Wilby and Paul Rhys	25 January 2003
After a Victorian skeleton is found on her estate, a young woman (Fitzgerald) starts to experience strange happenings in the night. She calls for help from a psychic (Rhys) and they uncover parallels with the present.
3.02	"Favours"	Gary Kemp, Gaynor Faye and Phil Davis	2 February 2003	5.68 million
After making a new life, a pub landlord (Kemp) finds his past catching up with him in the form of old acquantance Chaz (Davis), who needs one last favour...
3.03	"Stalkers"	Neil Morrissey, Natasha Little and Barbara Flynn	15 February 2003	4.4 million[note 1][2]
Children's author Hat Vezey (Little) attempts to avoid an infatuated stalker (Morrissey), who becomes increasingly dangerous.
3.04	"Suicide"	Diana Rigg and John Bowe	22 February 2003	6.40 million
A woman (Rigg) is found dead, apparently from suicide. However, as the police dig deeper, the suicide is not all that it appears.
3.05	"Contract"	Adam Faith and Jamie Theakston	3 April 2003	5.65 million
Three city workers (Theakston, Raji James and Andrew Clover) hire a hitman (Faith) to prevent their fraudulent secret being revealed but after the 'mark' dies of natural causes, they believe that the deal is over.
3.06	"Landlord"	Nicholas Lyndhurst and Ruth Gemmell	11 May 2003	5.96 million
An unscrupulous landlord (Lyndhurst) rents a flat to a young student, who is overcome by fumes from a faulty boiler. He must then take desperate steps to cover his tracks.
3.07	"Justice"	Helen Baxendale, Adrian Dunbar and Colin Salmon	19 June 2003	5.01 million
After a confrontation with the son of a local criminal, a father (Dunbar) finds that events start to spiral out of control. He starts to suspect that Alex (Salmon), a Police officer and boyfriend of his ex-wife (Baxendale), is involved.
3.08	"Cornershop"	Bhasker Patel, Nina Wadia and Tim Healy	29 June 2003	4.85 million
A mild-mannered Indian shopkeeper (Patel) is being increasingly harassed and threatened by racist thugs. One night, in a surprising show of strength, he kills the chief troublemaker, but how is he to cover his tracks, especially under the scrutiny of his overbearing wife (Wadia), a very determined detective (Healy) on his case and his daughter's wedding coming up? Well, he does have one friend who might be able to help him....

DVD release

A 9-disc DVD boxset containing all three series was released in June 2005.^[3]

Notes

1. Figure is an overnight estimate.

References

1. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". BARB. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
2. Gibson, Owen (17 February 2003). "24 returns to record ratings". guardian.co.uk (Guardian Media Group). Retrieved 4 February 2010.
3. "Murder In Mind [DVD] [2001]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2010.

External links

• Murder in Mind at BBC Online
• Murder in Mind at the Internet Movie Database
• Murder in Mind at TV.com